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Among the first few people to arrive at the starting point for Greeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on Monday was Joe Shortino, a man who has carried a wooden cross on his shoulder across multiple states.

Shortino said he felt called to carry the cross, and returned for the parade in Greeley — where he began his journey a year ago — because King was a man of God.

Shortino’s cross, mounted on wheels and topped with a symbolic crown of thorns, was just one of the ways that about 500 people who gathered for the Greeley parade honored King’s life and legacy in their own style.

After they marched from the Greeley Chamber of Commerce to the Union Colony Civic Center, parade attendees watched King in a grainy, black and white video of the original “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, D.C. in August 1963.

Applause overtook the room at the final words of King’s historic speech.

“Free at last, free at last. Great God almighty, we are free at last,” King said from his spot at the Lincoln Memorial just more than 50 years ago.

Lee Jones, an author and scholar who researches obstacles facing minorities in higher education, said during his keynote speech that issues with race relations are still very much a part of our nation’s fabric.

“In America, we don’t like to talk about race,” Jones said.

A critic of political correctness, Jones said our nation’s culture tends to neglect important conversations about race, religion or politics out of lack of respect or understanding.

“It is time we stop alienating ourselves just because somebody doesn’t agree with us. It’s time that we stop assuming that if you don’t think like me, there is something wrong with you.”

Jones added, “The real problem in America is that we try to convince each other that we’re right. And guess what? We live in a place that is so diverse that all of us are right in our own ways, as long as we’re not hurting anyone else. You have to learn how to respect that.”

Jones’ speech was preceded by three performances from students at the University of Northern Colorado — Eboni Coleman, Darian Gray and Tyrell Allen. Coleman and Gray sang and Allen did a piece of performance poetry.

Cord Brundage, a 33-year-old student of veterinary medicine at Colorado State University, came to the event to support his wife, who works at UNC.

He said Jones’ speech topped off a beautiful winter day for the march and a great deal of talent on stage.

“I walked out and was like, what a delightful way to start out this day, this week, this year,” Brundage said.

Terry Anderson, coach of the boys’ basketball team at Northridge High School in Greeley, said he brought the entire team to the event because high school students don’t remember King but need to understand the role he played in American history.

“One person can make a huge difference,” Anderson said. “I want them to understand and be a part of days like this.”

During his speech, Jones called on all of those in the community to, as King said, “be the best of whatever you are.”

“If Martin Luther King Jr. were here today, what would he say?” Jones asked. “If the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were here today, he would tell our nation to stand up when we want to sit down. He would say, ‘Tell our nation that we have to be better.’”